Sometimes used in combination with Templat:zh-l (literally "take concubine, take appearance") as Templat:zh-l ("when taking a [principal] wife, take the one furnished with morality; when taking a minor wife, take the one blessed with beauty").

The idiom comes from the event in 960 when military commander Zhao Kuangyin removed child emperor Guo Zongxun from the throne and proclaimed himself a new emperor after being presented an imperial dragon robe by his subordinates.

After becoming emperor, Zhao, for fear that military figures might betray him like he betraying his emperor, invited them to a wine banquet and successfully persuaded them to retire. This happened in 961 and gave rise to another idiom, Templat:zh-m.

The idiom arose from a practice in ancient China, by which a royal lady, as an empress or empress dowager, was allowed to preside over the imperial court without actually being seen by her subjects, because women were prohibited from politics. This would usually be done by the mother of a child emperor.

Attested in Zuo Zhuan (c. 4th century B.C.), in the entry for the 30th year of Duke Xi's reign (《左傳·僖公三十年》):
Templat:zh-x Uttered by Zhu Zhiwu (燭之武), a Zheng courtier, during his negotiation with the Count Mu of Qin (秦穆公) who was laying siege to the state of Zheng. Later used idomatically as a generic term for a host.

Based on a story in "The Circling Sky", in Zhuangzi (《莊子·天運》). Xishi (Templat:zh-l), a famous beauty in Chinese history, often frowned because of her heart disease. The ugly Dongshi (Templat:zh-l) of the same village imitated Xishi to try to be as beautiful as Xishi, but in turn made herself uglier and scared away the villagers.

During the Chu-Han contention, Xiang Yu found himself besieged in the city of Gaixia (垓下), by the coalition force of Han and the other kings. Jiujiang fell to Ying Bu and Liu Jia the preceding month, and most of the Kingdom of Chu was occupied by the Han army. When he heard the besieging troops singing songs in the Chu accent, Xiang Yu knew his kingdom had fallen.

From the story of the King Goujian of Yue (5th century B.C.), who forced himself to sleep on firewood and lick a gallbladder everyday to remember the humiliation of his previous defeat by the State of Wu.

(Whenever) King Xuan of Qi had men play the yu, there had to be 300 men (playing simultaneously). A reclusive scholar, (who was living near the) southern wall of the city,<ref>Because 南郭 has multiple meanings, the sentence could also be translated as:

a. "A reclusive scholar, from a city in the south, asked if he could play the yu for the king."

b. "A reclusive scholar, (whosesurname was) Nanguo, asked if he could play the yu for the king."</ref> asked if he could play the yu for the king.<ref>Even though the man couldn't actually play the yu, he figured he could play silently among the 300 men, so that he could receive special treatment by the king.</ref> King Xuan was delighted by this, and dispensed enough food rations for several hundred (musicians). (Then) King Xuan died, and King Min took the throne. He preferred to listen to (the yu players) one-by-one, (so) the reclusive scholar fled. (Wiktionary translation)

Mao Qiang and Li Ji [two beautiful courtesans] are what people consider beautiful, but if fish see them they will swim into the depths; if birds see them, they will fly away into the air; if deer see them, they will gallop away. Among these four, who knows what is rightly beautiful in the world?

The phrase alludes to several Chinese legends: one that credited the phases of the moon to a great osmanthus tree (Templat:zh-l) growing and shedding its leaves and blossoms each month; another granting the immortalChang'e an enormous mansion on the moon (Templat:zh-l), whose grounds included the tree; another (older than the Chang'e stories) seeing a pareidolictoad in the shadows of the moon and associating the toad with good luck and wealth (Templat:zh-l). Branches of sweet-smelling blossoms from the tree were thought to (rarely) fall to Earth and grant good luck to whosoever found them. The association with the tests had to do with the holding of the examinations around the time of the blossoming of the osmanthus and the Mid-Autumn Festival honoring its connections to the moon and Chang'e.

According to Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, had a mirror which could show the good or evil of a person. This gave rise to the phrase.